Review Fix Exclusive: Dren McDonald Talks The String Arcade

Review Fix chats with Bay Area composer Dren McDonald about his classic video game music album, “The String Arcade.” Reimagined for the a string quartet, McDonald puts a cool twist on some of your favorite gamer tunes. “The String Arcade” spans a few decades in video game history, from stand-up arcade classics (Galaga, TRON), through the 8- and 16-bit eras (Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, Ecco the Dolphin) and the golden age of 1990s adventures (Monkey Island 2, Outlaws), to more recent hits (Portal 2, Minecraft), indie favorites (FTL — Faster Than Light, Scurvy Scallywags), and mobile/social games (graBLOX, Pettington Park, Ravenshire Castle).

“The String Arcade” officially released on February 11 for digital download and CD. All album proceeds will be donated to the Alameda Music Project (http://www.alamedamusicproject.org), a tuition-free K-5 after-school program launching in September.

Click the Link Below to Listen in:

Review Fix Exclusive: Dren McDonald Talks The String Arcade

Check out a sample track from his new album below:

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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